Introducing New Graduate Student Elizabeth Eberlin

August 12, 2024 - Shelly DeJong

Meet Elizabeth Eberlin, an incoming graduate student in the Clinical Science research area.

Name: Elizabeth Eberlin (she/her) 

Hometown: Coast to coast! I was born in Las Vegas, NV; moved to San Fransisco, CA; did 1st – 9th grade in St. Louis, MO; and then completed high school in Saratoga Springs, NY! 

Education: I started my undergraduate education studying computer science (CS) with hopes to pursue video game development. During the middle of my sophomore year, I realized that what I liked about CS was logical reasoning and problem-solving, not so much the act of software development! I had always been interested in the puzzle that is the mind, of how electrical pulses can create our rich waking experience, so I pivoted to studying psychology with an interest in mathematics and art, and never looked back! 

 

Tell us about your background/experience. 

I’ve had my heart set on a PhD in Clinical Science since undertaking a study of psychology – I knew I wanted to research, teach, and practice therapy and that was one such degree that would let me do it all with style! However, my path to get here has been winding, and almost never happened had I not realized my qualms with computer science. After completing my bachelor’s degree, I didn’t work in a scientific field at all. I had been working part time in a retail store connected to a tea factory - my love of tea was too strong to turn down an offer to manage the factory itself! This was an amazing experience albeit one where I had to learn a lot on my own due to having minimal supervision or training…in hindsight, there was a reason a 22-year-old without a business degree was being offered such a role (the company was a mess)!  

I was still involved in my undergraduate lab as a post-bac research assistant, but my mentor Dr. Katherine Dixon-Gordon encouraged me to seek out experience with the population I hoped to work with in both clinical and research settings – schizophrenia spectrum populations. This curiosity was inspired by life and untimely death of my uncle who had a long battle with schizoaffective disorder. I was able to join Drs. Daphne Holt and Nicole DeTore as a research intern in the Mass General Hospital Psychosis Clinical & Research Program, and I loved every second of it! Alongside this internship, I moved to Boston in the middle of the pandemic and began working at McLean Hospital’s Schizophrenia & Bipolar Disorders Inpatient Unit where I was able to witness the myriad ways psychosis can manifest, as well as appreciate and be inspired by the remarkable resilience among those who experience psychosis and their ability to find humor in the darkest of times.  

From there, I went on to complete a research-focused master’s degree under the supervision of Dr. Kim Mueser where I got involved in vocational rehabilitation as a teaching assistant for adult recovery education courses. This experience paired wonderfully with my time working inpatient as I was able to see individuals both work to get well in the hospital and work to stay well out in the community. Adding to this was my subsequent job working as a research coordinator for Drs. Holt and DeTore, where I was given the guidance and support to refine my research interests within the realm of severe mental illness, and (crucially) with applying for doctoral programs this past Fall! 

 

Why grad school?!  

Because I’m an eternal student who has an innate passion for learning! I realized early on in college that a PhD is what I was after, with wanting to walk both worlds of clinical practice and conducting research. My hope is to bridge these two such that they inform each other – research questions inspired by clinical settings, and therapeutic approaches inspired by research. I put this passion to the test in a variety of ways and instead of burning out, I was only evermore inspired to gain the robust and rigorous training offered through a Clinical Science program, and I am so thrilled to join MSU to do so!! 

 

What do I hope to research while I’m here?  

I am incredibly interested in the process of delusional belief formation with respect to aberrant salience of perceptual stimuli, so I am very excited to work under the supervision of Dr. Katy Thakkar! I would like to explore how perceptual experiences and cognitive processes combine to weave such a compelling and convincing distortion of reality. Further, I’d like to understand what can be gleaned from this line of study to tangibly improve the response to psychosis-informed therapies and foster resilience for those with severe mental illness. 

 

What do I love about clinical science?  

Gosh, what’s not to love?! Ha, just kidding. I love that Clinical Science as a field is uniquely situated to both provide novel contributions to the world of science and to the world of therapeutic practice. Without Clinical Science, evidence-based therapies would not exist! I also love Clinical Science because I feel it perfectly speaks to my interest as someone who knew I wouldn’t be satisfied solely operating in a laboratory setting nor a therapeutic settings, I needed both, and Clinical Science as a field allows one to thrive doing exactly that! 

 

What do I do in my free time?  

I am quite the avid cyclist in my free-time – I love to use a bicycle for every possible errand and have commuted to work almost exclusively by bike for the past 2 years (20 miles round-trip!). When I’m not riding a bike, I love to garden – vegetables, native perennials, and houseplants! Over the pandemic, like many others, I cultured a sourdough starter and found a new hobby in making whole grain sourdough bread and in baking more broadly. If I’m not doing any of those things, I am likely walking my tuxedo cat, Mr. Postman, in the yard!